A new path
by iamteuton
Summary: what if Mizuki wasn't the one that told Naruto his past? What if it was... Perceptive Naruto NaruHina SasuSaku
1. Final Exam

"Ok, don't panic. All I've gotta do is pass a test, that's it. It's just the final exam at the academy, nothing more. As long as I don't blank out on the written segment, show enough control in the demonstrative portion, and sit next to Sakura, Shikamaru, or Sasuke I should pass fine." The kunoichi-in-training murmured to herself while fixing her long blonde ponytail and making sure the trademark bang fell perfectly over her eye. But while she indulged in her vanity, the margin of error for being on time and NOT automatically failing was closing fast. Seconds later, a female voice could be heard "Hurry up Ino-chan, you don't want to be late!" Though disregarding her mother's voice as annoying, she glanced at the clock and let out a loud shriek, seeing she now had ten minutes to get to class, and it takes a solid fifteen minutes to get there with minimal interruptions.

Ino's mother was worried about her daughter being late and was about to remind her again when she saw a yellow and purple mass fly by hurriedly saying"thanksmomgottagoseeya!" She did all this completely forgetting the bento she left on the counter as a reward for passing.

Another kunoichi-in-training could be seen on the street on the way to the Academy, but this girl was moving at a much slower pace. Incidentally, she lived directly across from Ino, but was already three quarters of the way there, muttering about shinobi history, the lineage of Kages, and other small tidbits. She was completely hung up on the histories, protocol, and the rules of a shinobi, not the chakra and its uses. She knew all that and more thanks to her clans' ability.

Her clan prided itself not on a much-sought after Kekkei Genkai such as the Sharingan, nor on a deadly taijutsu form such as the gentle fist, not even a special clan justu similar to the Nara's shadow possession or the Akimichi body modification, no it was simply the superior understanding of chakra. To put it in rank, a five year old Haruno child had a better grasp on the rudimentary theory of chakra than an eight year old genin. At age seven, tree climbing was second nature. This gap of ability on widened as a fresh genin could give a chunin a good run for their money when water walking over a hot spring. Finally, an experienced Haruno chunin could often put a black ops member to shame in the projection, length and quality of genjutsu's and directing chakra to any part of their body, whether it be their hands, feet, or even abdomen to block physical attacks. This superiority in knowledge of chakra was often shown first-hand by pissed off female clan members. Many jonins and clan heads (Haishi included) had vivid and painful memories as a chunin getting a thorough beat-down after taunting over rank differences. It was also normal for a Haruno to be in the top 5 % in their class.

Sakura was no different. She shared the highest scores on written tests and chakra understanding with her crush and Shikamaru. On tests though, she had conflicts of interest. She wanted to do her best and pass with the highest score possible, but conversely, she didn't want to continue showing up her crush by appearing smarter and better than him in the vast majority of topics. She decided to take the middle path, do her best but "miss" one problem, then hope Sasuke makes a perfect score and realizes that Sakura was on par with him, leading to the mutual confession of love for eternity.

Ino was not the only person to cut it close regarding timeliness. Another blonde haired person was having difficulty motivating himself to seize the day. It took an alarm clock with large, bright, digital numbers accompanied by a sound akin to an air raid siren modified to sound less like impending doom and more like a typical beeping sound, yet still loud as hell. Slowly rousing from a fantasy involving him, Sakura, and ramen, our blue-eyed hero squinted at the clock, and after slowly completing some very complex equations involving the current time subtracted by the time of his exam, he flew about his small cramped apartment similar to Ino, but in a different manner. He quickly looked through his closet and views his three-styles of dress: two –or four- sets of mission clothes, two civilian outfits, and his "ninja clothes". His self-pep talk was similar to Ino's "All right, calm down. All I've gotta do is pass a test, that's it. It's just the final exam at the academy, third time running, nothing more. As long as I don't blank out on the written segment, and sit next to Sakura, I'm fine." But what he didn't go over was the demonstrative segment. He decided to just wing it and hope for the best.

It was finally time for the exam and the ninja hopefuls gathered at the entrance, each projecting their natural personalities regarding tests.

Sakura was calm, cool, and collected, confident in herself in passing this test.

Ino was hunched over and panting holding onto the wall for support with her hair flowing down her back and face and her ponytail loose threatening to blind her, having to run at full speed to the academy using every shortcut she could think of to get here.

Shikamaru slouched with his hands in his pockets muttering over this being troublesome.

A portly but cheerful Choji, smiling at Shikamaru's grumbling and working on his fourth bag of chips in two hours.

Sasuke, his far away eyes slightly unfocused remembering not test answers, but memories of his brother and the massacre he was forced to watch.

Shino simply had his hands in his pockets, emitting the buzz of his kikai colonies and his natural "weird-ness" aura.

A cocky and loud Kiba conversing with Akamaru on how easy this test was and how they wouldn't even need to cheat.

A grinning and exuberant Naruto clothed in his "ninja clothes" which in reality was an orange monstrosity. He gave off a naïve but confident aura, certain he would pass this time around. But, like his "ninja clothes" as anything but, so was his inner confidence level. He was actually terrified of failing again for the third year running and being held back again.

Finally a shy, quiet girl with her eyes divided between the ground and Naruto's confident smile when he wasn't looking.

Shortly, the door was unlocked and the hopeful children took a seat, some "strategically sat" near crushes or someone to cheat off of and pass.

Ino took a seat next to Shikamaru, reasoning that although she'd MUCH rather sit next to her Sasuke-kun, she still needed to pass, and siphoning answers from Shikamaru was a guaranteed pass. Sakura managed to sit two spaces away from Sasuke-kun, but the blonde idiot beat her to sitting directly next to him. Hinata, true to her shy nature, took the seat in the top right-hand corner of the room, where she could somewhat hide but observe her Naruto-kun with no trouble. Shikamaru took the first seat available and let out a huge sigh full of exhaustion, as if just moving a few yards was a marathon in itself.

After Iruka had arrived and watched his students sit down, he inwardly smiled at the varied responses to having to take this test. He was especially amused at Naruto's visage of confidence. Start!

Immediately, the sound of pencils tapping against wood and parchment filled the air as Iruka watched all of his students for cheating, just in case someone felt above the rules. He was of the belief that none of his precious students would ever think of needing to risk their entire careers on a simple test. He couldn't be more wrong.

Many of his students felt the need to cheat. Ino sucked Shikamaru dry on every question except the last one due to time restrictions. Hinata liberated some of the harder answers from Sakura, while the orange-clad boy failed to cheat off of Sakura and only managed a few answers off Sasuke before he noticed Iruka's gaze sliding towards him. The rest of the questions he comes up with more "creative" answers, ones that although complete bullshit, sounded close to being in the ball-park of near the possible answer.

After all the papers had been graded, the results came and Iruka voiced who passed from best score to worst "Sakura Haruno and Shikamaru Nara both have perfect scores. The rest are Hinata, Sasuke, Ino, Choji, Shino, kiba,…" During this run-down on names, Naruto had failed to hear his name once and believed to be gone as failed. When he began listening again he heard "and the last passing grade goes to Naruto Uzumaki." "Yatta! I passed, I passed! I pas… Ow!" Naruto had begun to dance in his seat earning a smile from Hinata and a quick and painful smack on the back of his head by an annoyed Sakura. Sakura had hoped to miss one to get the same grade as Sasuke, but somewhere along the line had entered "Test Mode" where she attempted to answer each and every question correctly and thoroughly.

"Next is the demonstrative segment, if all the applicants will follow me please?" Iruka said leading away from the desks and towards a hallway with one sliding door in front of them. "Now, when called, you will each enter this room and perform a justu of our choosing. We will start with the highest grade first, if you could come in with me Sakura?" Iruka explained with a smile. He led her into the room and introduced her to her three chunin proctors: A hyuga, Iruka, and a third nameless chunin.

*small time-skip*

"Naruto Uzumaki?" Terrified and shaking, the said boy entered the room and awaited his proctors command. He noticed with interest that the Hyuga on the far right was looking- no, glaring- at him with the standard hatred that he got everywhere else. This in itself wasn't interesting; it was how the veins around his eyes became so prominent and idly wondered if Hinata could do that.

"Please demonstrate the Bunshin with multiple copies." Naruto visibly paled, this was his worst technique! Still he closed his eyes, formed the sign, put all of his chakra into it and with a poof, a useless clone appeared. He opened one eye then looked at the proctors hopefully…YOU FAIL!


	2. Becoming a genin part 1

YOU FAIL! The chunin in the middle yelled. But then Iruka tried to come to his rescue by saying "he did produce a clone and it was a definite copy." "We still can't let _him_ pass because of your favoritism," replied the hyuga. This had a double- meaning that was clearly understood by the other proctors, but was still not missed by the hated Demon Boy. What he failed to mention though, was that he was simply overloading on chakra, not incompetence or stupidity. But un-known to any of the proctors was another spectator, this one much more interested in unleashing this boy's full potential rather than limiting and restricting it because of some silly prejudice regarding the sealed monstrosity.

Naruto returned home crushed twofold, he had failed the final exam three years running without any visible progress whatsoever on chakra control and creating what was supposed to be a "simple" bunshin. But as luck would have it, on his way back to his apartment, he ran into Sakura-chan. He once more gathered his courage and confessed his love for her. He was also promptly shot down. But what hurt more was his crush had told him she would not return his feelings, as she preferred to fawn over Sasuke with the rest of the fan girls. "What am I doing wrong?" he thought with sorrow. He walked over to the refrigerator to pull out a dose of anti-depressants in the form of a cup of instant ramen when he saw a piece of paper with the words

"_There is another way to pass. Meet me at the swing south of the Academy immediately__**"**_ taped to a box of his precious ramen. After checking each and every box to make sure none were tainted or missing, he sat down and stared at the note. This was suspicious, even to Naruto, but decided that if he could graduate by meeting this man, then by God he would meet him. After he was done with dinner of course.

Again, Naruto went through the motions on what he wanted to wear. He decided on one of his sets of mission clothes. Since the day was winding down, he chose his "home" set. This set consisted of dirt brown pants adorned with green whorls, and a loose hooded long-sleeved shirt similarly colored but with green more prominent with random brown stripes and a olive green hood to conceal his blonde hair. After putting on his mission clothes, Naruto raced to the designated area to meet this mysterious man who promised so much. It was dusk, so there was not enough light to make objects clearly visible, but it wasn't dark enough to fully hide movements, forcing the brain to focus more on dissecting what was solid and real to what was simply a trick of the dying light or a simple shadow. To add to this, a moderate breeze was blowing, moving leaves and branches around, creating self-doubt and uncertainty on what one saw and what one believed. In short, it was like one big genjustsu created to prey on the eyes. Even though his eyes were useless, his nose was never wrong, "who are you?" he whispered with hope, despair, and fear all evident in his quavering voice. Several moments passed, with the only sound being the gentle breeze in the air and the rustling of branches and leaves. If one could see Naruto through this hell of uncertainty, they would see that he was shaking like a leaf, scared that this was a trap of some sort. His body then quickly entered the classic "fight-or-flight" response, but more advanced and pronounced. His ears were on full alert, ready to react to any noise that sounded threatening; his nose's ability was increased many fold, now being able to clearly smell his silent acquaintance, his darting blue eyes were still blind, but still were improved, and his body stance shifted to a standing ready position to a more crouched and defensive fighting stance. He now knew there was someone else here, but wasn't sure where exactly. But taking a second sniff, the scent was hauntingly familiar, but Naruto had never smelt this scent before in his life, but still he recognized it.

The other man observed from the tree directly above the swing with fascination. His eyes, darker than onyx and less pupil than a black hole, watched Naruto's transformation with glee. There was no transfer of chakra, no hidden feelings of rage and mindless violence coming to the surface, just the brain going through the motions of trying to stay alive. He slowly closed his eyes in anticipation, literally shaking in silent laughter, and slowly re-opened them, revealing a much more fearsome and deadly pair of eyes.

A/N well, here's chapter 2. It nowhere as long as chapter one, but I think it gets the job done. Chapter 3 should be up soon. I still need reviews, lots of them. Flames and Raves, either is fine with me.


	3. Becoming a genin part 2

**A/N: Well, chapter 3 here. Just to clarify, Sakura is not, and never will be, overpowered. For proof, read the description of her clan. If you still don't understand, PM me and I'll try to explain it. I wanted Sakura to be useful, not pathetic and worthless like the manga/anime makes her out to be. Let's get it on! **

**Key: **Jutsus

**Translations**

_Letters_

_thought_

The silent observer continued his watch over his blonde prey, getting a sadistic pleasure viewing the scared and blind boy trying to make sense of his surroundings, but without his senses. Knowing he was two steps away from pissing himself, he decided to introduce himself and get the ball rolling. He finally lowered himself and preformed a small hop landing directly in front of the base and a few yards away from Naruto.

For his part, Naruto had successfully avoided soiling himself; instead he worked out in his mind what was a trick of the fading light, and what was closer to being real. So when a silhouette dropped out from the tree, Naruto was 95% sure that was a real body, against 25% if he had appeared five minutes earlier. He was soon proven right when the figure told him, in a deep voice that exuded authority," I'm a friend, Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked at the figure with utter shock, disbelieving what he just heard. "…_kun_?" Only one other person ever used the honorific "kun", and that was Hinata. All the other times it was either teme or yarou (**bastard**), he rarely ever heard his own name. But having a familiar smelling stranger use kun was pleasant, and he relaxed and slightly lowered his guard. The other man then continued saying, "I saw you fail the second test, and I saw they didn't give you the third option to pass the genin test, and I wish to rectify that for your sake. I want you to become a powerful ninja that your village will appreciate and will accept your existence. I know that is what you want above all things, acceptance. I also know why you are denied things like a mother, father, brother, sister, friends, love, and happiness. I will tell you your history and help you pass if you bring me the Scroll of Secrets."

Naruto hung on every word this man spoke, finding acknowledgment. This man didn't yell at him, he didn't lie to him, he told him the truth. Though Naruto visibly flinched each time his unknown benefactor reminded him of what he lacked, he still promised him a future and his past. Whatever this "scroll of secrets" was, it was good as his.

"_Hook, line, and sinker."_ The deep voiced champion thought to himself. Looking at the boys' face right now, he could see trust, admiration, the hunger of having an identity, and the willingness to do anything he asked, whether it be steal a secret scroll or murder an important person of high standing all fighting for control of his face. In the end, Naruto wore the face of a child getting his most wanted present on Christmas Day. Observing Naruto's obvious total obedience to him to do whatever he asked, he began phase two of his plan.

He was brought out of his musing by an excited 8 year old kid asking "ne, ne, where is this Scroll of Secrets you need me to get?" Naruto was having trouble sitting still, he wanted to go get the scroll NOW. He opened his mouth to repeat the question when the shadow spoke again. " You know where the Hokage's tower is, right?" Naruto nodded in affirmative. "Well, just behind there is an old shack that has the scroll in it. I have unlocked the door for you, so you can just walk in and get it for me. Also, here is a sash to tie it to your back if you need to. Once you come back with it, we can start your training. Above all else though, you must not be seen or heard by anyone, understand?" the straw haired child again nodded. "Ok go now, and be quick!" Naruto lost all emotion on his face, then nodded and became one with the shadows.

But what he hadn't told him was how the door was unlocked. The Hokage had placed many traps, including paper bombs, seals written on the door to alert the Hokage to a possible break-in, and no less than 2 sensor type byakugan jonins making regular rounds around the shack. Pathetic really, when you think about it. After he took his place at the tree, he sent a clone to take care of the guards by using an earth ninjutsu he copied on the border of the Land of Earth to hide and move through the ground, similar to an armadillo, just less obvious and sneakier. Shocking the first guard with enough electricity to incapacitate him without disrupting his chakra signature, then silently breaking the neck of the second guard by hiding in his blind spot, he was making good time. He then spent a good full 5 minutes deactivating, breaking, and negating seals placed on the door, various parts of the shack and on the lock itself, all without setting a single one off.

After making sure Naruto's face was turned away from him, the raven-haired man activated his Sharingan and watched with interest as Naruto's chakra signature and movements became a polar opposite of his normal attitude. Gone was the pulsing and blinding amounts of chakra he would emit every second, he was now somehow concealing his and – to an extent- the Kyuubi's chakra. There were no wasted movements in order to show off or show himself, he was one with the night. If he didn't have the Sharingan to track the blonde's movements, he would have no idea he existed. The only other kind of person who would be able to see him now would be a Byakugan sensor, but there were no such people on duty that would be able to see this shadow.

True to his friends' word, Naruto found the shack unlocked and deserted. Entering and looking for the scroll, he began to think on the word "friend." To him, a friend was a person who looked at him devoid of hate, spoke words of kindness instead of malice, who helped him instead of beat him. To all intent and purposes, this stranger was more kind to him than the entire village combined. Iruka tried to help him and having one man in your corner is great, unless there are hundreds of others who don't share the same view. He smiled at the thought of having a friend, and soon became a full grin after locating the scroll.

. Looking out to the sky, he saw a full moon, stealing the light of the sun and taking it as its own. He wondered if this could be an omen, being as a man he has never seen or heard of suddenly appear and give Naruto the gift of friendship and kindness. He quickly terminated this train of thought, believing that one makes their own path and is not dictated by omens, signs, or auguries. Hoisting the large scroll onto his back diagonally and tying it with his sash, he made his way back quickly but carefully, knowing he now had a large burden on him.

By the time he returned to the tree with the swing, he had decided that he would refer to him as a friend and comrade. Walking the last few yards, he pulled upward on the sash, moving the scroll in a downwards fashion so he could grab on with both hands.

His face still having the dead and emotionless stare, he laid the scroll at his comrades' feet, looked to his face and asked in an excited whisper, "what now?"

Again, the shadowed man closed his eyes, summoned immense amounts of chakra to his eyes and in a soft, yet powerful voice said, "You will learn the truth and enter my world. Tsukuyomi."


	4. Becoming a genin part 3

**Well it is me again. I know it has almost been a full month since I have updated, but complications had set in, so I had to deal with those first. To make it up to all of you readers, I've decided to make an extra long chapter (10,000 words +) Be warned, there is going to be some coarse language, so if you have virgin ears/eyes, they will be quickly deflowered. Any reviews will be lovely, positive AND negative. Any questions can be put in a review or PM format. All measurements are in metric, meaning those that use the American Customary System will have to convert distances. **

**ENJOY!**

**Key- **Jutsu

_**Demonic voice (Kyuubi, Ichibi, etc…)**_

**Translations**

_Letters_

_Thought/illusion by genjutsu or Tsukuyomi/flashback _

**A/N or Point of view switch

* * *

**

"Welcome to my world Naruto-kun, welcome to Tsukuyomi. Here I will show you your past, explain why the village literally shuns you within the village, tell you of the most powerful being ever to walk

the earth, what your parents relationship was regarding this being and themselves, and how to become acknowledged by the rest of the village."

"Where are we? What is this place? Why is everything different colors?" _Why is this strangely familiar?_ Naruto asked and thought respectively. Looking around, he saw that the sky was a bloody

red color with a full black moon with a silver lining; the swing had disappeared giving way to a standard wooden square table with three chairs. The immediate ground was black, but gradually turned a

dark green color. The trees withered away and in their place emerged people-like black colored shapes. The Hokage Mountain was once again visible, except in much more detail, it no longer was it a

rock and stone monument, but human faces, complete with flesh, eyes, and other facial features all in perfect color.

Propping the scroll against a table leg, he looked back to the man and judged him to be about ten meters away, giving him plenty of time to react to any kind of attack. He unconsciously reverted back to his fight-or-flight stance, never letting his eyes off this deepening enigma of a man. He looked into his eyes and noticed that they were red with black instead of the normal blue, green, and

brown colors that people usually have.

But eventually he still needed to blink, and as he did, he felt the man stand behind him with a kunai pressed to Naruto's neck.

"Relax, Naruto-kun. I'm not going to hurt you, so calm down a take a seat, ne?

Naruto nodded and did as he was told.

"Now, what do you want to know first?" The man asked nonchalantly while walking to the opposite side of the table.

"Why the village hates me," Was the answer.

"Very well, let us begin."

_As soon as he had finished his sentence, the mass of shadows had re-formed in front of Naruto and begin to change and mutate until it shrank and showed a little baby crying with ritualistic candles placed _

_around it with an intricate and detailed seal on its stomach. Following this revelation the mass once more mutated and become a wall of larger shapes with shadows covering the shape next to them, looking at a _

_smaller shape covering his face with one arm displaying an irregular shadow. Oddly, instead of a perfect shadow like everyone else, it was a mass of tails, nine to be exact, all flowing and whipping around the boy. _

Naruto recognized the second demonstration and reasoned if the first demonstration was also him, then there must be a connection. He decided to view this as a math problem, "intricate seal +

prejudiced villagers + abnormal shadow =? (**A/N of course this wasn't his exact wording to the problem, but that's irrelevant**) Once again, Naruto was filled with questions.

"That's me…, how do you know this? How did you change our location? What kind of genjutsu is this?" still seated, Naruto moved his eyes and twisted his head and torso to get a better look at his

rapidly changing world. His voice was full of curiosity, fear, and confusion on what was real, what was part of a genjutsu, and where the hell he was.

Naruto's questions, compounded by his fearful attitude regarding his new world, pushed the older man into a laugh. This was no small chuckle of a laugh; it was a laugh full of malicious mirth, the laugh

of someone who held a dark secret from the terrified child.

"Genjutsu? No, this is no simple genjutsu, this is Tsukuyomi. In Tsukuyomi I control time, space, and even physical mass, everything is mine. You can do nothing here without my approval, and your

question about the black, red and depressing décor can be simply answered by, because I can. Now should we move to your next question, or continue showing the same puzzle pieces that you have

seen for your entire life?"

"No, I need more pieces. Tell me about this most powerful being to walk the earth" was the eager reply.

"Very well, here is the next puzzle piece for you. Meet the Kyuubi."

_Once more, the mass of shapes transformed in front of Naruto, but instead of keeping grouped together, it split itself into two extremely different sized portions and shades of gray away from Naruto and the now _

_silent man. Naruto again made an assumption on measurement and concluded that these two blobs were about 30 m from Naruto and 20 m from each other. One "blob" took the color of green with a black _

_outline with its "back" to the Hokage Monument; the other "mass" took a red color its back to the moon, "facing" the Monument. The forest also made another appearance, restoring its place after the shadows _

_had vacated their spot. These trees were absolutely huge in terms of the height, thickness and sheer number of them. An eight year old child was oblivious to this fact, but if one could classify some of these _

_trees, names such as Redwood, Ash, Giant Sequoia, and Montezuma Cypress would be on the top of the list. The now two shadows underwent a metamorphosis of sorts, taking much longer to transform itself _

_than the first puzzle piece. After what Naruto judged to be about 7 full minutes, the green mass split again, dispersing into hundreds of smaller human-like green shapes forming a loose testudo of sorts around _

_an infant adorned with markings and ceremonial candles. Tall iron walls were constructed around this infant by casting the strongest earth and fire ninjutsu available, being capable of sucking out iron in its pure _

_and mineral form and using fire in various shapes and sizes that were hundreds of times hotter than the most advanced blast furnace to solidify the mineral and turn it into useable iron and waited for the other _

_mass to reform itself. _

_They did not have to wait long. The red mass soon began to take shape, growing limbs, giving way to legs, paws, and a face with razor-sharp teeth in a twisted smile looking at its prey, eyes that showed no fear _

_but anticipation of the slaughter to come. But the most impressive growth was not the show of an over-sized fox, but the nine tails that whipped out and crushed huge ash trees as if they were saplings in a _

_show of strength. A moderate wind also began to blow, due to the incredible force the red beast was making with its tails. _

_The smaller green masses began an attack on this red monster, throwing items that Naruto recognized as kunai, shurikens, throwing knives, and a plethora of other weapons. _

_The red beast did not even acknowledge these pathetic attempts to protect their village. It simply thrashed about, enjoying the feeling of being the monster everyone feared and cowered from._

_But there was one man who literally stood out from the rest by riding a massive toad to battle. The wind picked up as the beast turned to face this "threat", swishing its tails at finding a worthy champion to _

_defend this pathetic hovel they called a Hidden Village. _

_The Kyuubi began to focus a tail to knock the little ant from the tadpole, but was stopped by a blinding flash of light as the ant finished the 20 or so hand signs, sacrificing his soul to the Shinigami to seal the red _

_monster inside the tattooed child, thereby giving him a great unrivaled potential and damming him to a life of misery, pain, and loneliness._

As if a giant rewind button had been pressed, the show was repeated backwards, ending with the trees sinking back into the ground and the hundreds of forms becoming a large black mass. Seeing

this, Naruto decided to ask his next question:

"But what role did my parents play in this whole catastrophe?" Naruto asked.

Still standing, the man picked his next words with great care as he answered him "Your parents? Your father was instrumental in researching on how to seal the Kyuubi into a vessel that could handle

the chakra output from the Kyuubi at birth and be able to siphon minuscule amounts of chakra without completely succumbing to its rage from the get-go. The seal used on you was a masterpiece

straight from your mother's villages' playbook. Over time you will be able to siphon ever increasing amounts of chakra from the Kyuubi at the cost of corrosion of the seal. Don't be scared; this was an

integral part of the plan regarding the balance between your chakra and emotions, and the Kyuubi's chakra and rage.

Your mother came from the Whirlpool village and was your predecessor. Her village was known for their exceptional seal understanding and life longevity. She was the brains behind most of your

father's research on the correct procedures and equations regarding time, elements, and strength regarding seals. Other than that, there is not much more I can tell you about her that you would be

useful to you, but just know that she was a key element to your pain, suffering, and loneliness. Any other questions, Naruto-kun?"

"If the Kyuubi is sealed within me, do I get anything from it, like a special ability or strength? I've got more hatred and loneliness than I need from the bastard."

The man laughed as he answered Naruto's question. "Well, you get two innate "abilities" as you say; one is boosted regeneration of wounds. You could lose an arm and the Kyuubi could most likely

grow it back. The other is a massive chakra pool. You could do medium ninjutsu and genjutsu for an entire day.

Naruto stared at the table and thought for a moment. He had mountains of questions and desperately wanted answers, but he asked the one question he had asked himself every day of his life;

"How do I get the villagers to acknowledge me?" he whispered in a trembling voice.

The man cracked another wide smile and replied with a question of his own "You want to be acknowledged by the village?" the boy nodded slowly, "Very well, there are a number of ways to go about it.

But, you have two best bets" he raised two fingers "One, you could fully release the Kyuubi and prove all of the villagers right in despising and fearing you, OR become the Hokage. The Hokage is the

most powerful and respected position in the known world. All the villagers will respect you. They will have no choice but to acknowledge you then."

"But the deck is stacked against me, how am I supposed to win the villagers respect if they shun me, ignore me or remove my presence at every possible opportunity? The only time people

acknowledge me is during my pranks and outbursts!" the boy refuted.

"Then use it to your advantage. Even after you left to recover the scroll, I still watched you. You show above genin level stealth techniques, you were able to fully detach yourself and become a

completely different person when needed, and your speed in recovery and return were also well above genin level. I guess running away and hiding effectively from fresh ANBU and chunin after a prank

has its rewards, ne? Being a ninja is a very dangerous occupation, you could easily die the second you let your guard down. So, have I given you enough pieces to put together the puzzle of your past?"

Naruto began to put the largest and most important pieces of the puzzle together; the reason why the village despised him, a cliff-notes version of his parents' histories and their accomplishments, and

the way to gain the villagers true respect. There were still more pieces he wanted solved, but they were too small to worry about, he already had the majority of the puzzle completed, the small fries

could wait, he could ponder about those later. But there was still one more thing he wished to know: "How do I become a genin? I failed the exam!"

The man took the scroll from the table leg and sat down across from Naruto, unraveling enough to reveal two jutsus.

The elder turned the scroll around and pointed to the name of the two jutsus, as if asking him to read the names that he would learn.

Slowly and carefully reading Naruto sounded out the two names: "Kage bunshin no justu and Shitsumei no sekai (**World of blindness) **Looking up with a quizzical expression, he looked to his –dare he

hope-friend and silently asked for an explanation.

His comrade began his lecture: "First off: Kage bunshin no jutsu. This allows you to make complete and perfect copies of yourself as long as you have enough chakra to maintain each clone. Number

two; World of Blindness. This is a genjutsu. It is quite similar to my Tsukuyomi; it allows you to control space and physical mass. You cannot control time, though. The amount of time the person is

subject to your genjutsu is relative to the amount of chakra you have put into this jutsu and the ability of the victim to recognize the effect of the genjutsu and dispel it. Now, both of these jutsus take

an enormous amount of chakra to perform and maintain. At your age and chakra control ability, I would say that if you decide to put a full effort of stamina and chakra into the World of Blindness, then

you will have to find some way of defeating your opponent without clones. Now remember, these are forbidden S-rank jutsus. Try not to overuse them. A famous man from the west named Napoleon

Bonaparte once said, _"__You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war."_ In your case, this means that if your enemy sees your genjutsu trump card and continues to

live, then you are forever at a disadvantage against them. They will know the signs of the genjutsu and will be on their guard defending against it." The enigma looked at Naruto looking for a spark of

comprehension. Seeing that Naruto had a general idea of what he was talking about, he decided to continue to the next order of business.

"Now, you had to perform the Bunshin no jutsu to pass, yes?" Naruto nodded in affirmative, "Ok, then we will work on your Kage Bunshin and Shitsumei no sekai for the rest of the day."

Suddenly, the table and chairs began to disintegrate and the backdrop blurred and reformed into a large dirt clearing with plenty of space for maneuvers for a large body count. After being shown the

seal for the Kage Bunshin, Naruto began practicing. Within a few hours he was able to become familiar with the effect of chakra being transported out of him and keep the clones in a fully solid state.

Naruto noticed an interesting side effect of the Kage Bunshin, whatever the clone did, be it running or punching randomly- Naruto learned. Deciding that Naruto was competent enough the ninjutsu and

recognized the side effect, the red-eyed man decided to have him practice his genjutsu.

The genjutsu used eight seals: horse, boar, bird, dragon, monkey, ox, rabbit, and finished with ram. This was much harder to become competent with; it required huge amounts of chakra and was more

risky. Naruto found The Kage Bunshins were easy to create and deploy, all he needed to do was create the clones and send them on their way. Not so with this genjutsu. He couldn't make waves of

this genjutsu, and if he missed the target or the target quickly dispelled his best attempt, he was left vulnerable until he could restore his chakra to usable levels. He had to make each casting count, as

the tax on his chakra pool was significant.

Silent so far, his friend decided to speak up. "Well, you are progressing excellently Naruto-kun. But I have two words of advice: one is to practice your chakra control. It needs serious work before you

decide to cast your trump genjutsu. Ask Iruka-sensei for exercises to control your chakra. The other piece of advice is to expand your arsenal of all kinds of jutsus. The Hyuuga Mansion and Uchiha

Compound are your best bet for finding info on ninjutsu and genjutsu. If getting into either of these areas fail, you may be able to get some basic ninjutsu and genjutsu from the ninja library. For

taijutsu, look for a jonin willing to help you out."

During his friends lecture, Naruto stared at him with admiration and slight hero-worship and was unconsciously replenishing his chakra pool for whatever the next task he was told to do.

* * *

The hero is question looked at Naruto and thought of all the possibilities he was passing up regarding him and the Scroll.

If he took Naruto out of the village as a child and raised him as his own, he could extract the Kyuubi whenever he wished. He knew the villagers would be delighted if he left, but unfortunately he also

knew the higher-ups wouldn't share this opinion. That damn Third Hokage would ally up with the council and convince them that Naruto was useful and deserved to stay in the village or some shit like

that. Even that damned Danzo would agree to get Naruto back if it meant denying the enemy a jinchuuriki. He knew the old man wouldn't stop there. Saratobi would go all-out in the recovery to protect

the Fourth's legacy.

The scroll issue was similar. If he walked out of the village with the scroll and the only other person who knew if the scroll had been moved was Naruto, he could guarantee Naruto would be killed for

treason, even if the 3rd Hokage did everything in his power to save him. Even if Naruto was innocent, the villagers would use him as a scapegoat. A dead vessel was a useless vessel, and the plan that

he had drawn up had the 9 tailed jinchuuriki alive and well prior to extraction.

Looking to Naruto again, the man smiled and said "Ok Naruto-kun, it's time to pass the genin final. Even though you failed the standard bunshin test, there's no reason not to go above and beyond and

demonstrate the Kage Bunshin to one of your instructors. I'm sure that someone will see your true skill and acknowledge that you are worthy of being a genin. Here's the plan…"

* * *

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, grinning at the thought of actually becoming a genin and the vast wealth of knowledge he was given on his past, present, and future. But one matter still bugged him,

_what is this man's name_? He raised his hand signifying a question as if in school. The elder man nodded to him, giving permission to ask his urgent question. Just looking at Naruto, the dark-robed elder

knew his last question.

"What is your name?' Naruto whispered. He didn't want to sound prying to the Good Samaritan, but one should know the name of their friend, right?

The man looked down to him as he answered, "My name is Madara but you can call me Tobi. Let's keep the name Madara between us though, ok? It'll be our little secret. If there are no more questions,

let's go get that headband, ne?"

Once more, Naruto felt the feeling of déjà vu, but dismissed it as he mentally prepared himself to become a genin.

Again the scenery changed as the clearing he was training in became trees and grass. Looking to his left, he saw the swing materialize under the canopy of the huge Tree of Sadness. This only further

steeled his resolve and desire to become a genin and break away from all the painful memories of defeat and failure experienced at a distance away from the villagers. Watching the rest of the

genjutsu becoming overlapped by the actual world, he observed natural trees shoot up in the familiar places, the academy becoming visible with its trademark Leaf Symbol and imposing clay doors, and

felt a breeze from the village and the smells that went with it: squalor, dying furnace smoke, and natural pheromones. But one smell wasn't there: Madara. Naruto looked up for his friend and noticed

that the only object unchanged was the full moon- though white instead of black and without its silver lining.

He quickly hid after suddenly picking up a new smell and footsteps coming from the dirt road leading to the clay door. Looking from the Tree of Sadness, he saw a figure looking suspiciously like Iruka-

sensei. _But why would Iruka-sensei be up at this time of night? _Naruto wondered. He continued to watch Iruka and wait for the signal.

* * *

Iruka had always had trouble sleeping on full moons or when he was deeply disturbed about something. He assumed the former was due to the attack of the nine-tails- it had been that day when his family was taken from him leaving him alone. The latter was due to simple worry about various things relating to Naruto. So to relieve himself from such insomnia, he would walk in his chunin

gear around the village until he either made a full loop to his apartment or ended up at the Academy doors. Deep in thought, Iruka looked back on the history between Naruto and him during the

academy.

_Starting from the first day of Naruto's acceptance to the ninja academy, Iruka had to make a choice between helping the "beast", or blocking him at every turn like everyone else. He wanted to hate Naruto like _

_the rest of the village, wanted to blindly see only the Kyuubi bypassing the host, wanted to blame an innocent boy for something he could never fix. But he couldn't. He saw the Kyuubi yes, but he also saw the _

_innocent boy who was always in such pain and anguish. He then went against the cloth and would covertly try to help him. So in class he would ask Naruto questions that he was sure Naruto would know, or _

_showed he understood the basic concepts. He didn't pick on him by making him the "enemy" of the rest of the class during field tests. If the goal of the test was to capture the enemy's scroll without being _

_discovered, Iruka would keep the rules fair by not restricting Naruto to only taijutsu or blunted weapons while telling the opposing team to use whatever they felt was necessary to protect the scroll: new kunai, _

_any gen/nin/tai/kin jutsu and even summons. Iruka made especially sure that Naruto didn't have to face clan kids: especially Sasuke and Kiba. He knew Sasuke would crush Naruto in taijutsu without mercy. _

_Kiba had the ego and "alpha dog" mentality. If Kiba lost to Naruto in any way and was ridiculed and teased by the other students for it, he'd go all out to regain his 1__st__ position in the next practical exam involving _

_him and Naruto on different teams via physical submission. _

_He would never admit it, but grading Naruto's test papers was actually fun. While Sakura and Shikamaru would give perfect and complete answers, Naruto was a bit more…. creative on how he answered his _

_questions. But above all, Iruka knew if the Dean of the Academy got even a tiny whiff of him treating Naruto like a human being instead of a beast, he'd be given the pink slip faster than a hungry Naruto could _

_eat a bowl of ramen. But in his mind, it was worth the fear of losing his job and becoming hated and shunned next to Naruto for sympathizing with the "demon". He wanted to make sure that Naruto didn't follow _

_the rest of the Village's method of destruction and self-destruct in his own way by hating the villagers and looking for ways to get even with merchants who refused to do business with them and shop owners _

_who attacked him even though he was willing to pay. _

Still in deep thought, Iruka ran straight into the Academy doors nose first. Holding his nose and checking for blood, he stepped back and closed his eyes fighting off a bit of dizziness incurred by the collision.

That's when he heard the sound, or rather sounds. The combination of the trees swirling, a branch breaking, and a strong breeze put a dazed Iruka on edge. He made a quick once-over around the

trees surrounding the Academy and was about to dismiss it as his own imagination when he heard the sounds again, except closer and louder. He began to inch away from the Academy towards the

forest to see what the cause of the disturbance, being completely unaware he was deep inside an intricate and powerful genjutsu that controlled his senses.

Naruto continued to watch and wait from the safety of his tree when he saw the first part of the signal. He went over the plan again in his head:

"_Ok Naruto-kun, the first step is to get someone trapped in my genjutsu. The signal will be the target will make a small but obvious mistake. It will be a motor failure in a small proportion, so small that the target _

_will not notice they are already in the genjutsu. _

Iruka continued to move farther and farther away from the Academy until he was outside of view and well within the forest. Jumping from tree branch to tree branch, he searched around him for

anything unusual. He finally located the reason of his worry flitting in and out of vision running through the trees with something large and heavy double-strapped on his back. Iruka followed behind him

and calculated distances, rate of movement, and comparable range between his weapons to jutsus and determined he should catch up and be in throwing range in about 30 seconds.

True to his estimate, Iruka caught up to fighting distance being about two trees apart. But, as if he knew what Iruka wanted to do, the enemy slowed his pace to a stop on a tree and bent down as if catching his breath.

Now with his opponent still, Iruka took a good look at the person, trying to find anything that would give away his Village. He found that everything this man wore was neutral, the clothes were the

generic brown and green and there was no insignia on anything he wore, but the large object fastened to his back was odd, yet familiar. Iruka stared at the large and fastened cylinder, trying to place

where he had seen such a thing. His eyes shot up as he finally recognized the object, it was the Forbidden Scroll!

Taking advantage of the distance and the still target, Iruka threw five shurikens at varying speeds and targets from his left hand, intending to remove the scroll from the enemy's back, while drawing a

kunai from his right pant leg and wielding it with the handle at chest level in his right hand.

Unfortunately, only one of the shuriken landed. Three were negated by a wall of summoned wood while the other simply went wide. The only shuriken that landed broke the hold of one of the

fastenings keeping the forbidden scroll still. Iruka began going through seals that would constrict his enemy using the earth around him so he could close the distance, until he saw the enemy turn his

head and thrust out his right arm with his palm open. Before Iruka could bring up his guard, he was slammed into a tree from the hardened log of sand suddenly created from the arm of the thief.

Stunned, Iruka fell to a sitting position against the tree and looked with blurry and distorted eyes, trying to keep conscious and alert for the next attack while he took stock of his injuries before his

brain could administer first aid. He had trouble taking a breath and his heart rate was erratic indicating that at least two ribs were broken and possibly others bruised. His sight was still distorted and

couldn't focus on a single shape at a time and his entire body was either tingly or unresponsive because of a mild spinal damage due to his body coming into direct and painful contact with the tree. In

short, he was as good as dead.

Following his sensei, Naruto watched for the completion for phase two. Watching Iruka-sensei becoming one with the tree and failing to stand up again constituted as beginning phase three in Naruto's

opinion. Again he went over the next step in his head…

_The next step is to influence the target to go deeper into the woods and closer to the enemy they think is there. He will find the enemy carrying the scroll and will attempt to engage, but will be wounded. I will _

_take care of this part, Naruto-kun."Madara had told him._

Iruka gave up trying to move his unresponsive body, gave up fighting, closed his eyes and waited for the end as his over-focused eyes watched the thief go through a significant number of signs….

And waited…

And waited some more until he felt droplets on his face and chest.

Opening his eyes, he saw Naruto standing over him with a spear of hardened sand protruding out of his right breast. Blood was dripping from Naruto's wound as he stood over Iruka in an attempt to

protect him from death.

"_Damn it Madara that hurt like hell!_" Naruto silently cursed as he impaled himself on the sand spear. Blood flecked out of his mouth and down one side of his mouth as he fought to stay conscious. He

had been beaten, kicked, violently attacked with kunai, shuriken, and crude weapons from villagers and shinobi alike for his entire childhood, but this pain was on a different level. His ribs had been

broken through, muscles torn, nerves fried, and a lung had been scraped. Never had he taken a hit from a weapon that pierced flesh past drawing some minor blood. Yet through the pain he stood up

and severed the connection of sand by a sharp chopping motion. Now separated from the chakra that kept its form, the sand in Naruto's wound poured out, leaving only a gaping hole the size of a

small fist. Naruto poured chakra into his wound, speeding up his regenerative ability to cauterize the wound and replace the missing skin, muscle, blood vessels, and bones in short order. Even with

terrible chakra control, he poured enough chakra to regenerate so fast that the process was visible, skin re-grew, nerves connected and began to fire, muscles re-attached themselves, and blood

vessels intertwined sending blood again throughout the body. Only his lung didn't immediately heal, that would take much more control and precision than Naruto could currently hope to have.

As he regenerated his innards, he went over the next phase of the plan..

"_All right Naruto-kun, here is the last and most important part of the plan. I want you to create as many Kage bunshins as you can, one hundred should be a good number to shoot for. When you protect Iruka-_

_sensei, use your own body as a shield. This will prove you care for others and will put yourself in danger to protect them."_

His outside body fully healed and lung only a sharp pain when inhaling, Naruto crossed his arms into the familiar T shape and roared "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

Immediately, almost 100 full clones appeared on and under trees littering the immediate area with brown, green, and yellow.

Making sure Iruka-sensei was watching, Naruto proceeded to physically subdue the missing nin through a beat-down worthy of a Haruno, but without causing any permanent damage or killing him.

Retrieving the scroll from the thief's back and setting it next to Iruka, Naruto completed the last step of the plan set for him by his new friend Madara.

_"When you recover, make a counter-attack, but be careful! Do not kill the missing nin or all this will be for naught. Just attack him enough that he becomes incapacitated and unable to respond. The scroll should _

_come off of the enemy and returned to Iruka after you deal with the missing nin. If all goes right, you'll be a genin tonight."_

Iruka watched all of this with awe, surprise, and plenty of pride, knowing he made a difference in someone else's life. He was amazed at the speed of Naruto's healing and impressed with his high

threshold for pain. After seeing the near 100 clones of Naruto, he was able to banish the last dregs of worry and hatred over the Kyuubi. The retrieval of the scroll was simply a bonus. Seeing Naruto

rest the scroll next to him, Iruka decided to take a very small liberty as a sensei and make a tiny …_adjustment _to his student's final exam grade.

Telling Naruto to sit and close his eyes, Iruka slowly untied his headband and loosely placed it around Naruto's forehead. Allowing his to open his eyes, Iruka smiled at Naruto and said the words both

of them wanted to hear: "you pass!"

"You pass!" Iruka repeated. The look of incredulity on Naruto's face was priceless. He had finally become a genin! Sure he had a little help, but passing is passing no matter how it's done.

Naruto slowly reached up and touched his headband and then gave Iruka a slow curt nod and bounded to his apartment in glee. Silently going from rooftop to rooftop, he reached his small, cramped,

cheap yet livable room and stripped, took a shower, flopped on the bed, closed his eyes and failed to go to sleep.

*Three hours later*

Once again, everyone met at the gates in generally the same manner and dress, Sakura still being first to the door, a muttering and slouching Shikamaru, a loud and obnoxious Kiba, a quiet and

worried Hinata, a quickly eating Choji, a high-and-mighty Sasuke, a weird Shino, and a panting and yawning Ino and Naruto.

Entering in the exact same seating, the students waited for Iruka to enter the classroom. Sakura began to get worried, wondering why her sensei was late. She glanced over to Naruto on her way to

Sasuke and noted the fact that he had a headband…. A headband? _"Where the hell did he get a headband? He failed the exam! He has no right to wear that headband, he must have cheated."_ Soon Sakura's

train of thought regarding to the tardiness of her teacher sharply de-railed and started going over all of the different ways a Genin could pass and compared it to her knowledge of what happened from

the time of the graduation ceremony to now. In the end, she came up with no possible legitimate ways that he could have acquired a headband. She decided to allow her tardy teacher to expel him

when he noticed Naruto's obvious attempt to cheat his way through.

Finally, Iruka did arrive – on a crutch though- and took a stand at the podium. He looked at everyone in the room, pausing at Naruto, cleared his throat and began his dismissal speech:

"Congratulations everyone! You have all passed the genin exam. You are on a rocky journey with many obstacles, but I am sure you will all become splendid shinobi! Now for the teams: Team 7 will be

Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akamichi. Team 8 will be Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. You will meet

your respective jonin in the next room straight across from here. Make Konoha proud, dismissed!"

Throughout Iruka's name calling, Naruto hung on his every word. After hearing his name and his crushes, he inwardly jumped for joy, which was quickly crushed after hearing Sasuke's name next. He

understood why though. He didn't even pass the actual genin exam; therefore he received the lowest score on both tests. Sasuke on the other hand was the perfect genius, always getting

near-perfect scores on tests and flawlessly executing basic jutsus such as henge and the bunshin jutsu. Didn't mean he had to like it though.

Team 7 sat bored and fuming for a full hour. Sakura sat fuming twofold.

One, Iruka looked at Naruto and didn't expel him, rather he PASSED him! Naruto didn't even pass the exam, why should he be allowed to participate as a genin? Two, he put him on HER team,

completely destroying any attempt at getting close to Sasuke-kun.

Sasuke stoically sat at a desk with his arms folded, idly scratching his forearms time to time.

Naruto, on the other hand, was not sitting, nor was he quiet; he was busy pulling his latest attempt for attention. It involved a tripwire, two erasers, and a clone. **(A/N Think along the lines of the **

**basic workings of a trebuchet.)** The plan was perfect! The jonin would come into the room and one of two things would happen: if he doesn't trip the wire the eraser falls on his head, but if he does

catch the eraser, he trips the wire and gives him a face full of chalk.

Kakashi walked down the hall with his Icha Icha book firmly in hand when he noticed the eraser wedged between the door and the wall. Knowing this was a prank, he decided to play along with it and

see if it led anywhere interesting. He was impressed when he received a face full of chalk. Sakura was already making an apology on behalf of a severely wounded Naruto while Sasuke looked with

disdain; not believing this "Kakashi" could teach him anything. Kakashi only sighed and told them to meet him on the roof within five minutes before dispelling himself.

**With Team 7**

Kakashi met the panting Naruto and Sasuke and sitting Sakura at the roof. Sakura was the only one not panting because she could already climb walls with chakra infused feet. After giving them a few

minutes to catch their breath, he began to do introductions starting with himself. To the team's frustration the only information that he gave was his name. Kakashi then gestured to Naruto to begin

while he assessed each of their strengths, weaknesses, and personalities.

Proudly Naruto explained himself to his new team. "I like instant ramen and training. I hate snobs and prejudice. My dream is to become Hokage!"

_"Sensei, your son will become a splendid ninja, I'll make sure of it."_

Sasuke then followed, "I like power and strong opponents. I hate useless people and vanity. My dream is to restore the honor of my clan.

_"Well, he's definitely going down the path of revenge early; I'll need to work on him more. He's conceited because he has a Kekkei Genkai, thus making him above everyone else."_

Sakura finished with "I like a certain boy. I hate anyone who tries to take him from me. My dream is to be a useful medic-nin."

"_Great, a fan-girl with her head in the clouds and oblivious to anything else, including her job."_

After privately assessing each one based on their words and body language, Kakashi tells them to be at the training area at five AM.

Team seven was not the only team doing introductions; the team 8 genins also introduced themselves. Kiba, true to his cocky and loud behavior, started.

"I love spending time with Akamaru, I hate all kinds of animal cruelty, and my dream is to be a vet and a strong ninja."

Shino went next, "I enjoy classifying new strains of insects, and I hate the killing of innocent insects. My dream is to become the first dual host.

Hinata finished by whispering, "I'm H-H-Hinata Hy-u-u-ga, I l-like ..umm..(Inaudible muttering), I h-hate p-p-people who are c-cruel to him, and my dream is to prove myself to him, my father and continue the family line."

At the mention of "proving to her father" Kurenai's mood soured and remembered back to when she first took Hinata under her wing.

_Kurenai opened the sliding door and briefly watched Haishi and Hanabi spar. Hanabi was decent but nothing special. Hinata could easily crush her if she got over her confidence issues._

"_Are you sure that you wish to place the clan heiress under my wing? The ninja path is dangerous and full of despair and sadness."_

_Haishi did not even turn his head when he coldly answered "Take her and leave my sight. She is weaker than her sister who is five years her junior. I have no need for a useless heir. Now go and allow me to continue training my new heir."_

_ Yet even through his cold words, what he said was interpreted differently between the three women. _

_Hanabi listened to her father praise her instead of her useless sister, furthering her fires of arrogance and "superiority"._

_Kurenai, although trained to see underneath the underneath, failed to read between the lines and only saw a cold-hearted bastard who didn't care about his first-born daughter. _

_Hinata was the only person to read between the lines and understand the hidden message: "Please become stronger and save me from having to replace you with your inferior sister. Make me and the clan proud." _

It was ten o'clock and two of the three potential genin were sleeping. Naruto, wearing his "ninja clothes", had somehow arrived early, but with no sensei or teammates to greet him, he decided to take

a small nap by creating a clone with instructions to go back to his place, grab a pillow, and give it to the original so he could get a few more hours of shut eye.

Next, at 4:45 ish, Sasuke arrived in his usual attire and also tired, but for a different reason, he had spent the night poring over as many scrolls, books, and paintings revolving around summoning,

whether it be a snake or weapon. This had become an interest bordering on obsession since childhood; he never wanted to be caught unaware or unable to defend himself ever again. After making

sure nobody was around, he took a leaf out of Naruto's book and leaned against a log, closed his eyes, folded his arms, and promptly fell asleep.

Sakura brought up the rear by being right on time, and fumed for the good five hour wait, vowing to kill her sensei for being late. As time passed, she began radiating killer intent, making no effort to

dampen it, broadcasting her intent to eliminate her pathetic sensei that couldn't even come to practice on time.

During this fit, birds began flying out the forest in droves, knowing something big was about to go down, and going far far away, preferably to the Land of Wind for a nice breeze to relax in, was a good

idea. Also sensing the considerable killing intent, Sasuke quickly woke up looking for this foolish killer, but shut eyes again with a smirk after finding it was just Sakura having a temper tantrum, nothing

more.

Naruto was in a deep sleep indulging in another fantasy involving Sakura, ramen, and the title of Hokage. Sakura was sitting next to him and feeding him ramen while he did important Hokage business.

Because of this, he was completely oblivious to the killer intent pulsing throughout the area. He was still out to the world until Sakura decided to wake him up by violently kicking him in his side.

Groaning in pain, he groggily woke to see an enraged Sakura, a smirking Sasuke, and a Cyclops. Sasuke was leaning on a trunk waiting for him to wake up and join them; the enraged Sakura was

leaning over him prepared to "encourage" him wake up faster. Yet an enraged Sakura meant a "quick tactical retreat" immediately to prevent some kind of intense pain.

Fully waking up and deciding to take his chances in regards to standing next to Sakura, Naruto moved to the middle log and waited for the briefing by Kakashi. He watched as Kakashi dug into his

pocket and pulled out two bells, two lunchboxes, and an alarm clock that looked suspiciously similar to Naruto's clock.

"Here is your survival test. You are to take these bells from me by noon, that's it. If you can, you pass. If you can't, then all of you will be sent back to the academy, that simple. Use everything in your

arsenal to kill me; if you don't have the intent to kill, then you're in the wrong business. Even if you are part of a clan or a prodigy, you are useless if you can't kill."

Nobody needed to ask the question _"but there are only two bells, that means someone will still fail."_

"We will begin when I say start, ready st-"

_"Weak, useless, failure, reject. No I am an Uchiha, not some kind of dirt. I will kill him for insulting my clan."_ Fingering a kunai, Sasuke ran forward intending to remove Kakashi's only working eye, until he

found himself with his arm bent behind his head with his own kunai centimeters away from his cervical vertebrae.

"I appreciate the effort, but I didn't say start yet." Letting go of his arm and giving him a slight push, Kakashi declared "START". The trio of hopeful shinobi hid where possible waiting for an opening to reveal itself.

Or at least two of them were, the other went to the clearing determined to prove that he was not useless, he was not a failure, he was not a reject, and he was an Uchiha, the strongest clan in all of

Konoha!

"You dare dismiss me as weak and useless? I am an Uchiha, I am elite, and I don't need anyone else to beat a one eyed joke like you!" Sasuke declared. Standing about 5 meters away from him stood

a bored and frankly surprised Kakashi.

Kakashi had expected Naruto to do this kind of thing, jumping headfirst into a fight without taking stock of his surroundings and getting riled up over something so trivial, but Sasuke? He was supposed

to be a genius, not letting small things like the honest truth that he was weak get to him. But, somehow it did, and it seemed Kakashi had to remind him of his proper place. Taking out his orange novel

and casting a sigh, Kakashi readied for battle.

Sasuke took no formal stance that one would see in styles such as Tae Kwon Do or karate, but instead drug a kunai through both of his arms, cutting through his long sleeved shirt, sending blood down

both of his arms. Following this odd way of beginning, he rushed at Kakashi, throwing a powerful left handed punch to the face which was easily blocked and held by Kakashi's similar hand. This was

absolutely fine with Sasuke, as he used it as leverage to attack his right ear with his right foot, hoping to temporarily disorient him long enough for him to grab a bell, but Kakashi would have none of it,

as he blocked his kick by bringing up his matching forearm to absorb and deflect the kick downwards and behind Kakashi. With Sasuke's feet too far away from each other to evade, and his left hand

immobilized preventing him from ducking or moving his chest, the only protection he had left was his right arm that was easily directed out of the way by Kakashi as he began teaching:

"Lesson one: taijutsu." The legendary Cyclops said before he made three precise thrusts with fingers extended **(a/n: think rock lee's power with Neji's precision****):** first to the lower right rib, a second

harder thrust to his upper left rib, and a much harder closed-fisted punch to the solar plexus, sending Sasuke rolling a good meter across the clearing.

This was all done in three seconds.

Getting on his hands and knees, Sasuke attempted to take a breath, only to cough up blood. Taking another breath, he prodded his chest and took stock of his injuries: two bruised ribs on the right

side, two more bruised ribs on his left that were dangerously close to his heart, shortness of breath and disorientation after the painful strike to his solar plexus, and an erratic heart rate from the left

rib / solar plexus combo. His arms were still secreting the blood that ran down his arms.

A normal person would accept that this person was superior in every way, but Sasuke was not a normal person, he was an Uchiha. He was an elite, he would not succumb to such superficial injuries.

His pride would not allow him to admit defeat either; it instead ordered the brain to flood his body with adrenaline, increasing blood flow to his muscles, stabilizing and increasing heart rate, dilating

pupils, and gathering all of the chakra possible in order to prove he didn't need a team. He formed a hand-sign and summoned a handful of kunai from his bleeding left arm and a stun/smoke bomb from

his right, intending to finish this now.

Memorizing the location of the presently reading Kakashi, he threw the bomb at Kakashi's feet, stunning and blinding the reading jonin to Sasuke's next attack. Smiling, Sasuke ran into the cover of the

smoke bomb and thrust his kunai into a solid object. He smirked, waiting for the cough of blood or grunt of pain, yet neither came. The last of the smoke bomb blowing out, he found he hadn't gutted a

jonin, but a piece of wood.

Furious, he began to look around, trying to imagine where his coward of a jonin and enemy was going to attack from. "Where? In front? Behind? Above? Where the hell is he_?"_

"None of the above" he heard. Distracted, he looked for the source of the voice but failed to look beneath him until it was too late as his shins were grabbed by two powerful hands and pulled sharply

downwards. "Lesson two: ninjutsu, Heddohantā" (**Headhunter jutsu)**

Squatting down, Kakashi looked at Sasuke and noticed his defiant eyes refusing to accept defeat. Sighing, he gave the head some advice, "Don't get riled up so easily. Just because someone is

obviously and completely superior to you in every way, doesn't mean you should rush in and prove them wrong. If it was a black ops mission and you were baited so easily, you would be dead many

times over. Remember that." After departing such wisdom, Kakashi got up with book in hand and walked past him, heading across the clearing and towards a more shaded area close to the river.

Naruto and Sakura watched this complete pwnage with calculating eyes. They were in different parts of the forest, as to reduce the chance of being detected simultaneously. Yet each of them were

calculating the same information slightly differently.

Killer intent began to seep out as Sakura watched Sasuke-kun receive a beat-down by an obviously stronger and more experienced jonin. As much as she wanted to go and restore her crush's honor,

she knew she wouldn't last two seconds in a direct fight with a master and her ninjutsu was nonexistent, leaving her only weapons being undisciplined chakra-filled fists and chakra enhanced speed;

nothing that would worry a trained jonin. Sighing in defeat, she decided to wait and try to think of a plan that involved her saving Sasuke-kun and getting the bells without Naruto being in the way.

Naruto also watched Sasuke being put in his place, and as much as he enjoyed watching Sasuke knocked down a few pegs, he still needed a bell. Giving a heavy exhale, he took a quick look at the sun,

drew his own conclusions and attempted to formulate a plan.

He learned that taijutsu was worthless and relying strictly on ninjutsu was also a dead-end, for even though he could make waves of clones, he had no experience with stances, tactics, pressure points

or physical weaknesses. His genjutsu was his only bet, but for even that, he needed time, distance, and the element of surprise for it to work. On top of all that, he only had one hour to grab a bell

before noon. So after a full and expensive minute, three clones appeared and dashed out to accomplish the original's impromptu plan.

The first clone barely completed Step one, which was to find Sakura and try to calm her down before the clone was dispelled. The "finding Sakura" was easy; the clone simply followed the waves of killer

intent to its source. It was the "convincing without dispelling" part that was the challenge. The clone found Sakura hidden in a bush surrounded by twigs and branches, as to warn her if someone was

to creep up on her from behind. The clone failed to evade the natural trap Sakura set up and sprung her trap, alerting Sakura to his position. Sakura quickly turned with a glowing green hand, prepared

to obliterate the fool who tripped her trap.

The clone knew that blocking was useless as Sakura's fist was stronger than all the chakra in its body, so it evaded the punch by bending from the waist, allowing the punch to pass over its head,

missing its nose by a few millimeters. The furious Sakura was ready for the finishing blow when the clone began to quickly explain why it was there and how to get their hands on a bell before noon.

Sakura, still skeptical on how Naruto was going to pull this off, decided to remind him on the key fact that there were only two bells and three people; meaning one of them was going home.

The clone used a newly-found silver tongue and explained to Sakura that this was a test on teamwork, not completing a mission. He had Sakura hook line and sinker to whatever plan he wanted after

he reassured her that Sasuke _likes_ physically strong women, the test was a fluke.

With Sakura in tow, the clone reunited her with the head of Sasuke. Again, the clone made sure that Sakura was always in its direct line of sight and far away enough to be able to react before being

dispelled by the angry fan-girl. Sakura shortly took out all of the ground around and beneath him without allowing any part of his face to be marred by a stray rock or dust. Now with Sasuke up and

moving, the clone went over the plan with Sasuke, detailing each of their roles in getting their hands on a bell. The clone knew that Sasuke wouldn't believe a failure like him if he told him the sky was

blue. But it also knew that Sasuke lived for the chance to prove that he was better than the rest of the world and gauging his strength to everyone else, weaker and stronger. So the clone again used

his silver tongue to persuade Sasuke that getting a bell by following the instructions of a failure was the best way to increase his strength and get revenge on the jonin who made a fool of him.

With the cooperation of Sasuke and Sakura cemented, the clone dispelled itself giving the original the information to proceed with the rest of the plan.

Sitting against a tree in the middle of a shady forested area, Kakashi resumed reading his Icha Icha book. Clouds began to gather around the area, slowly blocking out the sun. Even through this, he

had by no means dropped his guard though; he still kept an ear out for anything suspicious. Half-way through the third chapter, three bushes around him began to rustle a bit more than the rest of his

hiding spot.

Suddenly, two of the three odd bushes began to move at an even faster rate than the third bush. Noticing this, he quickly stood up and staggered a few paces away from the tree while increasing his

awareness level. The bushes then came to life as two clones dashed out attempting to get their hands on a bell. Light began fading at a faster rate than normal, making his job on fighting off the clones

more of a challenge. After kneeing one clone in the face and breaking the neck of the other by grabbing the outstretched arm of the second clone and using the momentum to position himself behind it,

it wasn't until his vision was almost gone did he realize he was in an S-ranked genjutsu. Closing his right eye, he removed his headband revealing the Sharingan to dispel the genjutsu, while

immediately casting a genjutsu of his own that showed his eye still covered. The interval between these two actions was less than a hundredth of a second, giving Kakashi the peace of mind that no

one saw his Sharingan. He easily dispelled the dark clouds after looking into it with his Sharingan, but felt movement shortly after he dispelled the actual blindness of the genjutsu. Fully destroying the

last remains of the genjutsu, he looked down and found the bells gone. Surprised, he looked up and saw Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura side by side with Sasuke ad Sakura holding a bell. Sasuke and

Sakura looked fine with Sasuke only having a few scrapes. Naruto looked a bit worse for wear though. He was looking down, flushed and panting with his hands on his knees, yet still smiling in

accomplishment. Kakashi was still puzzled on how they managed to get the bells. He decided to ask the panting Naruto what the plan was. Looking up, Naruto began to explain:

" Well, I knew that there were only two bells and three of us, meaning your plan was to turn us against each other to see if we could overcome the rat race and band together as a team. Also, even the

three of us couldn't beat you if we attacked separately, so one of us would need to formulate a plan and trust the others to follow it.

Step one in the plan was to recruit Fan-girl over there to help rescue Sasuke. Your genjutsu worked perfectly too, using the power of suggestion to influence Sakura and Sasuke to want to fight by

themselves or succeed without total help respectively.

To begin, I created three clones while I hid in some brush. I then sent one of the clones to contact Sakura and convince her to help my cause without being dispelled in her fury. After calming her down,

I instructed her to follow me to where Sasuke was buried.

After freeing Sasuke and explaining to him the plan, I began phase three, getting our hands on one of those dammed bells.

To do this, I sent my other two clones to hide in the bushes to your left and right, while Sasuke and Sakura were in front and behind you waiting for my signal."

"The signal?" queried Kakashi.

"You remember when you staggered away from the tree and clouds began randomly gathering?" Naruto continued. Kakashi nodded slowly. Naruto smirked as he continued to explain, "That was the

signal. At that point I had caught you in my genjutsu Shitsumei no sekai. Symptoms of the genjutsu are completely up to me. I could make you stagger slightly or make you see or hear things out of the

ordinary. I can control space and physical mass as long as the jutsu is active. But it's a huge drain on my chakra pool, so I can only do it once or twice a day." Naruto made a serious face and went on,

"I have a question though sensei, where did you get the Sh… that red eye? I've only seen one other person with it named Tobi who is a good friend of mine."

Kakashi was shocked that Naruto had been able to come up with a superb plan in a few moments using three complete rookies to defeat someone many times stronger than them. He was even more

shocked that he was able to see the Sharingan, recognize it for what it was, and had already come into contact with it before. Thinking of all the Uchiha members he knew, Kakashi could only think of

two people who weren't killed in the Uchiha massacre: Sasuke and Obito. Sasuke hadn't activated his yet and Obito was dead, so who showed Naruto the Sharingan? Snapping out of his reverie, he

heard the last few words of Naruto's speech, "what now sensei?"

Kakashi had no intention of answering any questions on his Sharingan eye, and he figured that was the only thing Naruto had on his mind, he looked at the clock and saw it was 1245, so he decided to

give them the brush off.

"You are now Leaf genin, so go home and prepare for our first mission tomorrow. Meet me at the Hokage's Tower at 700 sharp, DISMISSED!"

**Ok, I know that making Team 7 with Kakashi wasn't the most original thing to do as a writer, but I'm going somewhere with this, and it involves Kakashi and the team 7. I probably lost a load of readers though… Don't forget to REVIEW!**

** I want reviews, I am not a perfect writer. Tell me what I did wrong; be it content, vocabulary, structure, organization, etc.. I plan to make updates about once a month. Laters**


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